Shelly 
Vodafone Idea Ltd.’s current state is a reminder of that grim Ajit joke from the movies. Where the mafia don tells his henchman to chuck a victim in a liquid oxygen tank. “Liquid use jeene nahin dega, aur oxygen use marne nahin dega.”
Events of the last week have put one of India’s three remaining private sector telecom companies in a similar zombie-like state. Not quite dead. Not quite alive.
Even as it’s about to suck up Rs 16,000 crore of taxpayer money (notionally).
Using the government lifeline extended in September, Vodafone Idea has decided to defer spectrum and AGR payments to the government by four years and to convert the interest dues in that period into equity…giving the government a 36.5% stake in the company.
In doing so, it has bought itself time…four years to raise capital and cashflow to stem the outflow of subscribers, invest in network infrastructure, become 5G enabled, service other debts and somehow be ready to start paying the spectrum, AGR principal amounts (in installments).
Just to be clear, here’s a check on the size of the problem.
Vodafone Idea’s AGR and spectrum dues as of September 2021 is $23 billion versus current market cap of $4.5 billion - Goldman Sachs.
So, can Vodafone Idea come back to life?
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